A method is disclosed for measurement of wafers and other semiconductor components in a probe station which is used for examination and testing of electronic components.
Any electronic, micromechanical or optical components formed in a semiconductor substrate is understood subsequently to mean a semiconductor component. Such a semiconductor component or wafer that includes a series of such components is referred to as device under test in conjunction with a measurement.
In a probe station a device under test is subjected to different measurements for examination purposes or for tests or to determine its parameters, in which a measurement can also be carried out under special environmental conditions. The device under test is contacted with a probe for the measurement in order to supply or take off a measurement signal. For this purpose a contact surface of the device under test and the probe must be positioned relative to each other and brought in contact, in which case several contact surfaces are often simultaneously contacted by several probes. One process step that influences the course of a measurement is movement of the device under test or the probe or both components to establish their contact.
Positioning of the device under test and contacting occur by means of electric drives. In order to minimize a possible influencing of the measurement by electromagnetic field of the electric drives, after each movement step, regardless of whether contact has already been established, the electric drives of the positioning device of the probe station are switched off, i.e., placed in a “quiet mode.” Time is required before and after each movement for engagement and disengagement of the electric drives.